National Archives and Records Administration
General Records Schedule
GRS Transmittal No. 8
December 21, 1998
TO: Heads of Federal Agencies
1. What does this document do? GRS Transmittal 8 explains the changes that have been made to the General Records Schedules (GRS) since August 1995 when we last issued the GRS. The General Records Schedules (GRS) provide mandatory disposition instructions for temporary administrative records common to several Federal agencies.
2. What is the status of GRS 20?
- GRS 20 is the subject of a court case, Public Citizen v. Carlin. On October 22, 1997, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order declaring GRS 20 "null
and void." The Government filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which is pending. See the GRS 20 web site for more information on GRS 20 and the court case.
- In accordance with the Memorandum Opinion and Order of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, dated September 29, 1998, we have issued the following statement:
The District Court's injunction of April 9, 1998, prohibiting the Archivist from issuing Federal Register notices, bulletins, directives or other official statements of any kind stating that General Records Schedule 20 currently authorizes the disposition of electronic records, remains in effect.
The District Court has further authorized the Archivist to state that a federal agency may continue to follow its present disposition practices for electronic records until (1) the agency has submitted and received approval from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) on a Request for Records Disposition Authority; (2) notification by NARA that the appeal in this case has been resolved and NARA has provided further guidance as a result of the appellate court's decision; or (3) further Order of the District Court.
- We are developing a new GRS for information technology records. When that GRS is completed, we will issue another GRS transmittal to send it to you.
3. What changes have been made to the other GRS? The following chart shows the major changes. In addition to the changes shown in this chart, we have added a new final item to GRS 1-16, 18, and 23, to provide disposal authority for electronic mail and word processing records used solely to produce records described in those GRS, after a recordkeeping copy has been produced, and electronic copies used for dissemination, revision, or updating that are maintained in addition to the recordkeeping copy. The new item does not authorize disposal of any records in agency files or other recordkeeping systems. We made this change in response to a recommendation from the Electronic Records Work Group established by me to address electronic records disposition issues. (The Work Group report and my statement on the report are available on the GRS 20 web site.
GRS Affected | What is new or changed |
---|---|
Introduction to the GRS |
a. Updated with current NARA organization titles. |
GRS 1, Civilian |
Items 4a, 23a(3) and (5), 23b(2) and (4) - Changes the |
GRS 3, Procurement, |
Item 3 - Changes the disposition to comply with the Federal
Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 and the Federal Acquisition Reform Act of 1996. |
GRS 9, Travel and |
Items 1e and 5c - Changes the disposition from "destroy when no
longer needed" to specific retention periods. |
GRS 12, |
New item 4 - Covers telephone use records. The approved item mandates a 3-year retention, but allows agencies to execute earlier disposal if information concerning abuses is captured in other records. |
GRS 14, Information |
Items 1, 14, 15, 26, 34, and 35 - Deletes the authority to destroy sooner than the specified retention period if no longer needed. |
GRS 16, Administrative |
Items 2a, 2b, 7, 8, 10b and 14e - Changes the disposition from "destroy when no longer needed" to specific retention periods. |
GRS 17, Cartographic, Aerial photographic, |
Item 2 - Reserved. Formerly covered duplicate aerial photographs that are nonrecord materials. |
GRS 18, Security and Protective Service |
Item 24b - Deletes the authority to destroy sooner than the specified retention period if no longer needed. |
GRS 19, Reserved |
GRS 19 was rescinded several years ago and agencies had to separately schedule their research and development records. The former title of this GRS is no longer needed. |
GRS 21, Audiovisual Records |
Items 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 12, 18, and 26 - Deletes the authority to destroy sooner than the specified retention period if no longer needed. |
GRS 22, Inspector General Records, WITHDRAWN |
The entire GRS 22 and the disposal authority formerly provided under this GRS are withdrawn. NARA Bulletin 99-02, Withdrawal of General Records Schedule (GRS) 22, Inspector General Records, provides background on why we took this action and explains what you must do to obtain disposition authority for those records if you used GRS 22 as the disposition authority. |
GRS 23, Records |
Item 1 - Facsimile machine logs were added as an example of a short-term administrative record relating to communications. |
4. Do I have to take any action to implement these GRS changes?
- Our regulations (36 CFR 1228.50(d)) require you to disseminate GRS changes within 6 months of receipt. If you wish to apply a retention period that differs from that specified in the GRS, you must submit an SF 115, Request for Records Disposition Authority, to us for approval.
- NARA Bulletin 99-02, Withdrawal of General Records Schedule (GRS) 22, Inspector General Records, provides guidance on steps you must take for your Inspector General records. We have sent copies of this bulletin to agency heads and records officers. The bulletin is also posted on NARA's web site.
5. How do I get copies of the new GRS? We are sending the updated versions of the Introduction and GRS 1-18 and 21-23 in electronic form (WordPerfect 6.1, Word 6.0, and ASCII) on disk to your agency records officer. We are also posting a set on our web site. We will also send your records officer a printed copy of the GRS when it is available.
6. Who do I contact for further information?
- NARA's Life Cycle Management Division provides assistance and advice to agency records officers in the Washington, DC, area. Your agency's records officer may contact the NARA appraiser or records analyst with whom your agency normally works. A list of the appraisal and scheduling work groups is posted on the NARA web site at http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/appraisal/.
- The Records Management staff in NARA's regional offices provides assistance to records officers across the country. A complete list of NARA regional facilities may be found at http://www.archives.gov/locations/index.html.
JOHN W. CARLIN
Archivist of the United States